Immortal Habit Revised
by Shuken no Ryu
Summary: The past is back and the Senshi need to be awakened. Against her will Serenity is forced to bring them together again. Will this renewal of old bonds remind Serenity of her humanity? Or will past mistakes push her back into millennia old habits?
1. Prologue: Dreamin' About Yesterday

Author's Note: Alright, this is the revised version of Immortal Habit. I'm keeping the other one up for now for my reviews and for reference material because the copies I had on my disc and computer are long gone. I've made some huge changes right off in the prologue. Hopefully, this version will be truer to what I was aiming for in the first place.

Immortal Habit

Prologue: Dreamin' About Yesterday

_Blood soaked the concrete dust beneath her, staining the pale grey rubble a dark red. Pain shot through her in spasms like fire flaring through her veins. It hurt so much that she wanted to die. She would die just like them. She wanted to join them in eternity, free from all the fighting. And she would. Just as soon as she killed this bitch._

"_You won't win, Zylstra," Eternal Sailor Moon rasped and turned her head to cough up more blood._

"_I already have, luv," Zylstra giggled from up above. She was floating in the sky like a dark angel with her black hair streaked with red fanning around her and her black Victorian gown fluttering in the wind. "Everyone's dead. In Jubaan at least. Once I'm rid of you, I'll finish the rest of this worthless planet. And none of your little dead senshi will be able to stop me, princess."_

"_The Starlights will get you," Sailor Moon warned. "Pluto will tell them what you've done."_

"_Hmmm, I suppose I'll have to kill them as well then, won't I?" Zylstra sneered and played with a ball of red energy. "If I can kill the White Moon's lead defense and even turn one of them, I think I'll be able to handle three gender confused bikini babes."_

_As she lay there, Eternal Sailor Moon realized she had never felt such hate towards another being. In the past she had accepted her enemy for what they were, even forgave them in time. Sailor Moon had never hated anyone, she loved everyone wholeheartedly; that was what she did. But this woman would never get forgiveness. Zylstra had stolen the very future of earth when she turned Endymion to her twisted way of thinking. Chibi-Usa would never be born and Crystal Tokyo was just a memory all because this woman had been jealous. Endymion was dead by Serenity's own hand because of Zylstra._

_Years from then Usagi would say that it was the hate that had saved her. It let her ignore the power of the Silver Crystal and Princess Serenity that would kill her if she used them and drove her to reach deeper, farther into herself than ever before. Deep in a dark corner of her soul she found the power she was looking for. A little silver ball of power that she just had to touch to unleash. She reached out and grabbed it._

_There she found the Silver Millenium's dirty little secrets. All the memories Queen Serenity had kept from her because they didn't follow the 'grand design' set out for her. So many things had gone wrong in the end. All the misunderstandings and corruption had helped destroy the Silver Alliance. If one thing had gone right maybe things would have been different. _

"_Cousin?" Eternal Sailor Moon looked at Zylstra in a new light._

_Zylstra giggled, "Remember that, do you? Took you long enough. Too late now, though. I might have taken you out for a cup of tea..."_

_With that the small ball of red energy that the daughter of the Red Moon had been playing with grew. Zylstra gave one last insane cackle before flinging that ball towards Sailor Moon. Finally, she would have her revenge._

_Usagi was sure she was as good as dead. The red ball kept coming closer and closer to her. She closed her eyes waiting for her death to come, in doing so she completely missed the glow that surrounded the bodies of her senshi and then transferred to her._

_The power of the senshi mixed together in a silvery shield around Sailor Moon's bloodied form and protected her from the red blast that hit the shield with the force of a semi. Dust flew up everywhere, obscuring the last senshi from Zylstra's view. _

_Sailor Moon waited for the blast to hit her and the heat that would accompany it. She shivered, she was so cold. As soon as the thought crossed her mind, comforting warmth surrounded Sailor Moon._

_Confused, Sailor Moon opened her eyes. Maybe she was already dead?_

_The shield flowed around her like quicksilver, never holding still. Other colors swirled in the silver: blues, greens, yellows, and reds glimmered in and out of sight. Sailor Moon had never seen anything like it before. Slowly, she raised her ungloved hand and lightly touched it._

_The silver began crawling down her arm, over her chest, and down her stomach until wrapped all around her to her toes and then it covered her face. Usagi felt no fear as the silver engulfed her, it was like powering up when the magic covered her. It felt natural._

_From the air, Zylstra watched in disbelief as the cloud of dust cleared. The bodies of the senshi had been completely destroyed in the blast, where they had lain there was only faint scorch marks. But the princess had survived. She was covered head to foot in silver and instead of lying on the ground she was floating, her toes brushing softly on the wreckage of Juuban. _

"_It's not possible..." Zylstra whispered, voice trembling slightly in fear._

_The silver Usagi staggered as lumps began to form on her back. The warmth of the silver had turned hot to her skin and burned on her back. Had something gone wrong? Just kill her now. She tried to cry out from the pain but the silver just poured into her mouth. It felt like she was drinking acid, it burned and sizzled its way down her throat, changing her from the inside out._

_Then, finally, the silver lumps burst open to reveal a pair of real pristine white wings and the last of the quicksilver disappeared down Usagi's throat to reveal a very different Sailor._

"_Wh-who are you?" Zylstra gasped. The woman before her was not the princess she knew but still eerily familiar._

_The woman in front of her had white hair, not gold, and the odangoes were heart shaped instead of round. Her fuku was pure white with the exception of a cloth with eight strips of color on the front of her skirt. Instead of the golden crescent moon of the lunar royalty on her forehead there was a golden eight-pointed star. The eyes seemed to be quicksilver; the orbs never seemed to stop swirling, color flickered through the silver like it had in the shield. _

"_I am Sailor Cosmos," the scout replied softly._

'_I think...'_

_Usagi felt new power flowing through her veins. Real power. Not like the little drops that were her other transformations. Yes, she was Sailor Cosmos but she was also something more. There had been something else unleashed with this newest form._

_But now wasn't the time to think about that. _

_Zylstra had come down from her spot in the sky. Fear told her to flee for her life but Cosmos was too pretty, so full of light, so she came closer. _

"_I'm going to kill you, you know," Cosmos told Zylstra gravely, stopping the approaching woman._

"_Kill me gently, starry one," Zylstra replied in awe, still dazzled by the legendary senshi._

_Cosmos paused for a moment. The quicksilver had done more than changed her looks and her power, it had changed how she thought as well. It'd taken the last step in the transformation that'd begun when Mamoru had betrayed her. She was Neo-Queen Serenity but without Crystal Tokyo and a world of peace. No...that was wrong. But for now, it would do._

"_I shall," Cosmos nodded and reached out her hand to catch the staff that had materialized. _

_It was unlike the staff Sailor Cosmos had held during the battle with Chaos. Hers had been a white staff with an orb at the top and wings. This one was white with slender golden vines wrapping around it and a vicious crescent blade enclosing an eight-point star. In the middle of the star sat the Silver Crystal. It was both beautiful and deadly, a symbol to define it owner._

"_Kneel," Cosmos commanded softly. _

_As if in a trance Zlystra lowered herself to her knees, bowing to this angel that must have been there to give her a gift. A gift for finally succeeding in her quest and destroying the last of the White Moon family._

_It was with that thought she died. Sailor Cosmos has moved swiftly and silently, decapitating the woman before she had even fully kneeled. Cosmos marveled how smoothly the blade passed through bone and sinew. A faint sheen of blood covered the blade and a drop fell from the tip and joined the puddle that was growing around the body. _

_The only sound for miles was Cosmos' ragged breathing as she stared down. Like a puppet cut from its strings Cosmos fell to her knees into the blood, staring blankly at Zylstra with pupils like pinpricks. The staff dropped from her hand and almost clattered to the ground before it disappeared into thin air. The silence lasted an eternity as Cosmos just stared, unblinkingly, at the first person she had ever deliberately killed._

"_Do you fear yourself now?" a voice asked softly._

"_We fear what we do not know," Cosmos replied steadily._

"_How can you not know yourself?" the voice inquired kindly._

_Sailor Cosmos slowly rose from her knees, Zylstra's blood ran down her legs and over her white shoes, and turned to the voice. The ghostly form of Queen Serenity stood before her, just as beautiful as ever with her lavender hair and eyes that showed only concern for her daughter._

"_Sailor Moon couldn't have done this. Usagi would never dream of it. But I did," Sailor Cosmos replied in a whisper._

"_Then maybe you are no longer those people," Queen Serenity tilted her head and watched another bead of blood run down Cosmos' leg. _

"_I've never been anybody else. If I am not them who am I?" Cosmos asked harshly._

"_You," her mother answered simply._

"_Mother, what have I become?" Cosmos' pleaded wearily, it had been too long a day to unravel riddles._

"_You are Sailor Cosmos. Protector of the universe. You've ascended to your ultimate senshi form. You are queen now, not I," Queen Serenity replied. _

_Cosmos laughed bitterly, "A queen without a country, throne, or court. Wonderful."_

"_You have dominion over all, my child," Serenity explained gently, "Your throne resides in the stars and your court only has to be brought forth from the darkness."_

_Cosmos tensed, "I will not raise them. They deserve their rest."_

"_What about Eve and her sisters? They had only just awoken. You cannot leave them with so much life left ahead of them," Queen Serenity spoke of Sailor Earth and her sister's the Twins of Atlantis, who had their powers awoken to avenge the destruction of Atlantis and stop their once-beloved brother._

"_They will be reborn, like the others, in time," Sailor Cosmos replied stonily._

_Queen Serenity bowed her head, "Horrible things will happen to them that would have been prevented by their powers."_

"_I will watch over them. I will die before I let any of them come to harm," Cosmos vowed. "Besides, Pluto will be with me."_

"_And Saturn," the former queen nodded._

_Cosmos smirked, "Not even I would dare keep the Senshi of Rebirth from being reborn."_

_Queen Serenity sighed, "Like you could. Fine, let them rest. They will awaken though and they will know you."_

_Cosmos nodded. With another sigh Queen Serenity faded and left Cosmos on her own. For a moment after her mother left, Cosmos stood feeling lost. Then, with a last look at Zylstra's body, she spread her wings and took flight._


	2. I'm Still Here

Author's Note: Well, here's chapter one. The first half of the chapter was inspired by Evanescence's 'Haunted'. I love all of you that reviewed. To who asked about how the senshi died: I won't be giving specifics but don't worry, I make up for not telling you how they died this time. And to those who've gone and read the first version of this story: Please take the entire thing as a grain of salt, it was crap and I'm trying to rectify the situation. I wouldn't even call this a revision, more of a complete rewrite.

Chapter One: I'm Still Here

'Long lost words whisper slowly to me  
Still can't find what keeps me here  
When all this time I've been so hollow inside  
I know you're still there'

"Haunted" Evanescence

In a dark apartment a lone figure slept restlessly. She tossed and turned, wrapping the sheets tightly around her and threatening to topple off the bed. A sheen of sweat covered her and she gripped a pillow to her like it was her last hope. Her white hair was a tangled mass matted to her head. Ill dreams plagued her endlessly, dreams of the past, of the present, and dreams of what was to come. The dark smudges under her eyes were a telltale sign that this wasn't the first sleep she'd spent like this. It wouldn't be the last either.

The apartment was a sparsely furnished with barely any furniture or personal effects. There were no pictures or souvenirs, no ornaments on the walls. All there was in the bedroom was a mattress with no frame, an alarm clock, and a gun next to the mattress. The living room had a couch whose color was indiscernible because of all the stains, a crate masquerading as a coffee table, and a TV so old that you had to get up to change the channel. Unsurprisingly, the kitchen was in the same sad state: a fold-up card table was set up in one corner with a metal folding chair next to it, a mini-fridge hummed on the counter and a rickety gas stove were the only things in sight. All in all, the apartment looked more like an abandoned homeless shelter than someone's home and that's how the residents liked it.

Yes, there was more than one resident. At the foot of the mattress there was someone else; beautiful full-grown female Siberian tiger slept just as restlessly as her master. Her tail twitched constantly and her face was twisted in a silent snarl. The tigress was spread out strategically in front of the bedroom door so if someone decided to intrude they'd meet five hundred pounds of pissed off feline before her mistress.

A beeping broke the tense silence of the room and woke the occupants instantly. The tiger sprang up with a growl, ready to attack/maul whatever had disturbed her. Just as quickly the woman sat up, wrapped only in her sheet, with a gun pointed at the beeping laptop. For a moment she was confused but then her features relaxed with comprehension and immediately seized up again. With a clenched jaw she lowered her gun and got up from the bed.

"It's alright, Sel," the woman calmed the tigress and approached the beeping object she's shoved in a corner so long ago.

Sky blue eyes scanned the message that'd appeared on the screen of the laptop. She'd received the laptop from an old friend six years before and had only used it once before abandoning it to collect dust. It had been meant as a communication device between her and her team if there was ever a need for them to get involved in the Eve Wars. Obviously they hadn't since the wars had ended five years ago and she'd only ever received one other message. Her team had assembled for two weeks then, before scattering to the four winds again. They'd spoken little since. Now, it seemed events had transpired to force them together again. The message read:

'Tokyo. Juuban. North Crystal Point. Noon. More details then.

- P.'

Only one person could or would contact her on the laptop. And she rarely ever (try never) brought good news.

The woman sighed and attempted to smooth back her hair, scrunching up her nose in disgust when she realized what a mess it was. With a deep breath the woman closed her eyes in concentration and ran her hands through her hair again, this time the hair fell smooth and clean down her back in soft waves and the cold sweat she'd been saturated in had disappeared. Mentally, the woman made a note to thank Minako for teaching her the simple beauty-magic tricks.

Once she'd dressed, she wandered into the small kitchen and opened the mini-fridge in hope of something to eat. Unfortunately, it was almost completely empty with the exception of a few boxes of take-out that had been there for gods know how long, a half eaten yogurt, and one shriveled orange; not particularly good prospects.

"I thought you were going to go shopping, Sel," the woman commented to the tiger, who'd followed her, and grabbed one of the boxes of take-out.

Sel sneezed, shook her head, and went to lie on the couch in the living room as if to say 'You try finding a grocery that stays open past midnight'.

The woman rolled her eyes and for the thousandth time wished she had learned to cook sometime in the last millennia. She picked through her sweet and sour chicken a bit before deciding that it was inedible and dropping it into the trash. Really, Sel was supposed to be the responsible one. If you can't trust your tiger to buy groceries then whom can you trust? She settled on water and filled up a glass, opening the blinds to the mid-morning sun while she was at it.

The window's view wasn't a great one but Serenity loved it for its honesty. It displayed the lower-class Chicago neighborhood with brutal accuracy. In the building adjacent to hers there was a married couple with several domestic disturbance reports. The husband had a violent temper that no amount of fines and threats from the police could control and the wife had enough men on the side to make up for any love her marriage was lacking. To top it off the son had been peddling drugs for the local organized crime-ring since he was eleven and was thoroughly addicted to his product. That was reality to her now. It'd been a long time since it'd been anything else.

This is where she belonged: in the slums. She was no better than any of them, no matter what blood dictated. She had more blood on her hands than the worst of murderers. Though, considering her profession, she was a murderer: a murderer for hire. She was Artemis, the most notorious assassin since after the Eve Wars. She was the one to kill Relena Peacecraft and outsmart Hiiro Yui. And now here she was working on contract for the Chicago Mafia and living off old take-out. Whoever said the assassin's life was glamorous? Surely not her.

Finished with her water, she set her glass in the sink and closed the blinds with a snap. This chapter of her life was about to close, she could feel it. Her redemption was close at hand. Setsuna didn't call on her without reason, they'd long ago agreed that unless a threat to the planet presented itself the Time Guardian would not disturb Serenity. Something big was coming. She'd been feeling it for months, maybe even years, it became hard to tell as the centuries passed.

She returned to her bedroom and began to pack in a very unconventional way. She picked up the alarm clock and threw it over her shoulder carelessly. For any ordinary person the clock would have succumbed to gravity and crashed to the floor but for Serenity the clock simply vanished into thin air. The same was true for the dagger under her pillow, the few clothes in her closet, and multiple weapons that were illegal for a civilian to possess. It was one of the wonders of having your own personal inter-dimensional space pocket, it cut down on luggage significantly. Within a few minutes Serenity was ready to leave the apartment she'd slept in for the last year.

She always called it 'the apartment'. It wasn't home. Home would always be Juuban, even if it no longer looked anything like she remembered it. That last battle had ensured that all her ties to her old life were severed. She and Pluto had been the only ones to survive that battle and even then that was more magic than skill. She relived that day so often in her dreams that some days she felt like she'd only fought the battle yesterday, that her muscles ached from the pain of being slammed on to the rubble and the scars on her back throbbed like fresh wounds where her wings had appeared.

Serenity pushed away the memories and strutted out into the living room where Selenity was waiting for her.

"C'mon, girl, off we go," commanded gently and they both disappeared in a flash of silver light.

* * *

Everyday Hiiro Yui sat at his desk and typed. Today was no different. In the prerequisite green tank-top he'd worn most his life and ripped jeans that were strictly against the Preventer dress code he typed in his dingy little office that lacked any obvious organization. Files spilled out of filing cabinets and were stacked on every flat surface he could find. On the front of his desk was a sign that Duo had put up as a joke that said 'Don't fix my mess, you'll screw up my system' but Hiiro had thought it a fair warning to people and left it up. Duo, in his delusions, had thought Hiiro had gained a sense of humor and somehow signed Hiiro up to several Joke of the Day mailing lists that now flooded his inbox every morning.

Many people wondered exactly what Hiiro typed all day. Some thought he didn't do anything at all but the sea of files debunked that theory. Actually, he kept track of every potential threat to the peace of ESUN. He studied, researched, summarized and rated all the known terrorists in the world. It was a job that a whole department should have been doing, not just one man, but Hiiro seemed to be doing well for himself and no one argued that his profiles were the best so they left him alone.

That is, everyone but Duo.

"Hey, Hiiro!" Duo greeted as he burst into Hiiro's cramped office, his long braid swinging behind him in its annoyingly jaunty way. Hiiro wondered briefly if Wufei would be upset if Hiiro chopped it off instead of letting the chase that had spanned five years continue.

"What do you want?" Hiiro asked evenly, only glancing up briefly before returning his gaze to the computer screen.

"I can't visit my favorite office legend without wanting something? I'm hurt, Hii-man," Duo pouted and attempted to flop into a chair but then realized there were files stacked on it so he pushed a pile off Hiiro's desk and sat there.

"Hn. Get off my desk. Why are you here?" he demanded again, this time stopping his typing completely to cross his arms over his chest and glare at his 'friend'.

Duo ignored Hiiro's request and swung his legs innocently. At twenty years old one would think Duo Maxwell would change from his womanizing, smart-mouthed, dimwitted, American ways into some sort of productive member of society, obviously the boy had other ideas. Hiiro was in awe that Deathscythe's pilot had even lived past the age of three, where his IQ had chosen to stop rising.

"I'm here for that profile on the Shepherd Organization," Duo admitted cheerily. "Quatre and Trowa came across some illegal mobile doll shipments that were heading towards the Shepherd's Chicago base. They want everything there is to know about them."

Hiiro nodded and went back to his typing, "Third file from the bottom in the stack you pushed onto the floor."

Duo looked at the files scattered all over the floor and blanched when he realized the stack he'd shoved off had mixed with the rest of the files. There was no way he'd be able to find that file now. Hiiro never marked his files so they all looked the same. 'To confuse the enemy' Hiiro once told him.

'Well, it damn well works,' Duo thought forlornly.

"But Hii-man," Duo whined and hopped off the desk. "I can't find it in that mess!"

"Hn, too bad," Hiiro grunted and continued to type.

Duo rolled his eyes at his friend's predictably anti-social behavior and began to dig through the files, chattering all the way. Fortunately, Hiiro had long ago perfected the art of not listening to Duo so whatever the man was talking about the perfect soldier was completely oblivious to it.

Until Duo hit him upside the head with the file he'd been looking for.

"Hey, Hiiro, can you hear me, buddy?" Duo asked with a concerned look.

"Get out, Duo," Hiiro glared at Duo and curbed the impulse to grab his braid and smack his head repeatedly into a wall.

Duo smiled cheekily as if he knew what Hiiro was thinking, "Sure, buddy! Got what I came for anyways. Remember the party on Friday!"

Hiiro grunted noncommittally as the door swung shut behind Duo. Of course he remembered the damn party! Duo had only reminded him every day for the past two weeks. The man had come up with some hair brained scheme for all the ex-gundam pilots to go hang out outside of work as a kind of anniversary thing. Hiiro was convinced that it was a plot to get him out of the office and drunk. Not that he didn't ever leave his office or drink...he just preferred to do it alone.

Hiiro ran a hand through his unruly brown hair and decided to check his mail. Usually, this time was a relaxing one that gave him an opportunity to work out his aggression by deleting everything with the word 'joke' in the subject line. But when Hiiro brought up his inbox today he got the shock of a lifetime: sitting at the top was an email from Dr. J with 'Mission' as the subject. He hadn't received a mission from Dr. J in almost five years. He hadn't even known the old man was alive.

Reluctantly, Hiiro opened the message and read:

'Tokyo. Wednesday. Bring the others. I'll find you.

-J'

Hiiro stared at the screen for a long time. He'd been raised for missions, for war. It was what he'd been programmed to do. But it had been five years of peace and his head hadn't exploded from it yet so it couldn't be all that bad. He wasn't the boy he had been.

It didn't matter. He had a mission. The years seemed to melt away and he was just fifteen again.

"Mission accepted."


	3. For Rememberance, As A Reminder

Author's Notes: Here's number two. The title is taken from Anne Bishop's Black Jewels Trilogy, it's an amazing work and I highly recommend it if you're ever in need a dose of dark magic. If you have read the books you should recognize the title immediately.

Immortal Habit

Chapter Two: For Rememberance, As a Reminder

Wind rustled through the Phoenix Memorial Park carrying the unique scent of night and spring cherry blossoms. The moon shown down turning midnight into noon and stars twinkled in the heavens. The breeze rustled the cherry grove and a shower of petals floated through the air like pink rain. The scene was picturesque. No one would believe this had been the site of the senshi's last, and bloodiest, battle.

After the destruction of Juuban it had taken years to clear away all the rubble and years more to rebuild. In memory of all the ones that had died, including the senshi, the land surrounding the area where Zylstra had been beheaded had been turned into a park. The cherry blossom grove was dedicated to all the children that'd been killed in the battle, in the middle was a pole with the children's names inscribed on it. Phoenix Memorial Park was filled with the names of the dead; from the pillar in the grove to the lists on the onyx carved benches. It could take you weeks to look at them all.

Serenity was only interested in one.

_Tsukino Shingo._

She stood at the center of the grove in front of the memorial, dressed completely in black with her hair tied up in a knot. Running a manicured finger across the weathered stone, she mentally tallied up the years she'd spent away from Japan just to avoid this moment. Avoiding her failure. In the thousand years since the last battle she'd never once set foot in the memorial or any other part of Japan for that matter. There'd been too many memories.

Now, here she was breaking one of her habits just because Setsuna had wanted to see her at a Crystal Point. Ironic that the Crystal Point happened to be in the same place they'd all died. Serenity could still feel the concrete dust in her lungs and the metallic smell of blood lingered in the air. That same loneliness she felt that day engulfed her, making her feel like she was the last person in the universe and it was all her fault. The only thing keeping her anchored was the cold stone beneath her hand.

"I'm sorry, Shingo," Serenity whispered, pressing her forehead to the pillar. "I was supposed to protect you"

Shingo had been Sailor Moon's number one fan. The champion of love and justice could do no wrong in his eyes. He was convinced she'd always save the world. Shingo was sure Sailor Moon was invincible.

Unfortunately, being invincible didn't mean you couldn't be defeated. And no matter what history said about Zylstra's death, Sailor Moon had most definitely been beaten that day. Zylstra had taken away everything she'd loved. What's a champion of love and justice without love?

What a surprise Shingo would've had if he'd ever found out that his own sister was his hero. Usagi had wondered what would happen if she'd told him. Would he be happy? Disappointed? Would his opinion of his sister go up or would his opinion of Sailor Moon go down?

She had never told him because she had wanted to protect him. If he'd known he would've become a target. Usagi would never admit it aloud but keeping her brother safe had been important to her. Her whole family had been important. She would have done anything to keep them safe. It was her job, her destiny.

'But it doesn't matter now, now does it?' Serenity thought bitterly. 'I screwed up. They're dead.'

"You must have loved him very much."

Serenity sighed, not moving from her place on the pillar, "We were horrible to each other. I called him a spore and he made fun of my grades. We were young and stupid."

Selenity's eyes sparkled in the darkness, "Reminds me of another sister-brother set."

"I keep telling people I was meant to be an only child," Serenity replied and straightened, mentally pulling herself back behind her wall.

Selenity nodded and approached the pillar, pretending not to notice Serenity's face harden and her eyes settled on that void gray color they always were when Serenity was caught acting human.

Coming into the light illuminated the girl's features. Her long brown pleated skirt and white linen shirt were reminiscent of a schoolgirl's, the outfit was completed with black Mary Janes and socks. Her face was pretty but nothing to talk about with wheat-gold hair and green eyes. It was a face she rarely wore anymore but was still most comfortable with.

"You better hope no one sees you like that, Lena. It'll be all over the news," Serenity warned as she took in the woman.

Selenity shrugged, "They'll think they've seen a ghost like all the other times. Besides, you told me I needed to live a little. Here I am. Living."

"I meant get a boyfriend, not start urban legends."

Selenity snorted. Five years had gone by since Selenity had first experienced the change and it had been five years since she'd 'died'. The world thought little of Relena Peacecraft anymore. She was safe.

Selenity turned and started walking away. "Setsuna is waiting for you at the Angel Memorial. Follow me."

With a last glance at her brother's name, Serenity turned and hurried to catch up with Selenity.

The Angel Memorial was at the very center of the park in the middle of a cobblestone patio where eight paths met. A marble statue of an angel with wings spread stood at the very center of the patio. The statue's face was blank with no eyes or nose, just an embedded eight-pointed gold star. Surrounding it, in between the paths, were eight other angel statues with blank faces. Each had a different colored stone embedded in its forehead that corresponded to a senshi that had died that day.

Serenity stopped when she saw it. It was a beautiful memorial butâ€it was wrong. She didn't deserve to be in the middle. What had she done? Had she given up her life while fighting for mankind? No but they had. And they surrounded her.

"They honored you, your highness. They remembered you long after they'd forgotten Zylstra," the shadowed form of Setsuna detached herself from the shadows.

Setsuna was as timeless as ever. Her garnet eyes were centuries old and her dark hair flowed down her back just like it always had. The only new addition was the white lab coat. Just looking at her made Serenity feel fourteen again.

Serenity shook her head, "I shouldn't be the one honored. My sacrifice was nothing to theirs."

"They are honored also," Setsuna pointed out and motioned towards all the statues but she already knew what Serenity would say.

"But never enough. They should be in the center, not me," Serenity proclaimed as she traced the star on the center angel's face.

Setsuna watched her queen with sad garnet eyes. The familiar feeling of guilt gnawed at her stomach like it did every time she saw Serenity. As the Time Guardian she could take glimpses into the future and often knew things the other senshi didn't. With Zylstra she'd been just as blind as the rest of them. She'd been so sure that Chaos was the last threat that she'd stopped looking forward. If only she'd looked one more time Serenity wouldn't be like this. It was all her fault.

And what she had to say wasn't going to help.

"Serenity, this is not why I asked to meet you here. I have bad news," Setsuna said slowly, breaking the stretched silence.

"You never bring any other type, Miss Setsuna," Selenity replied lightly from her seat on the onyx benches surrounding the angel.

Setsuna chose to ignore this comment and focused on her queen, "Serenity, Endymion and Zylstra are not dead."

Serenity stiffened and whirled on Setsuna, her face equal parts anger and fear, "If this is some kind of sick joke, Pluto-"

"It's not. They're alive and they've been that way for fifteen years."

The world tilted under Serenity's feet and for a moment she was overcome by a deep primal fear. Images of what Endymion and Zylstra had done swirled like a whirlpool in her mind pulling her down into darkness. All the blood those two had spilled and all the blood the senshi taken in return flooded her vision. The seas of blood roared in her ears.

They were back. They couldn't be back. She had killed them with her own hands. She'd knelt in Zylstra's blood. She'd _cleaved_ Endymion in two. They were dead. Couldn't possibly be any deader.

Like that meant _anything_.

Taking deep breaths Serenity fought back the darkness at the edges of her vision and shook off the last of the initial panic. She could do this. No big deal. Just another evil villain back from the dead.

"How?" Serenity asked once she regained control of herself.

Setsuna eyed Serenity with concern and wondered if telling her had been such a good idea. "They are bound so that if one lives the other cannot die."

"I could remedy that with a few swipes of my claws," Selenity proclaimed confidently, "It'd be ironic. Zylstra dying by her own spell turned back on her."

Serenity shook her head, "No, if I can't kill them by separating body parts then disemboweling them is useless."

Setsuna nodded gravely in agreement, "Either would work but it would happen at the same moment. It's very doubtful you could get that close."

"Why not? I'm Artemis. There's no one I can't kill. What makes Endymion special?" Serenity smirked at the truth in her words. She'd been an assassin for a long time, long enough to become the best.

"Endymion and Zylstra are very public figures. They own one of the most prominent peace corp. organizations in the Earth-Sphere, they've bought off anyone that would want to take a contract out on them. The Shepherd Org is also being closely watched by the Preventors, if you try to kill those two you'll be caught within an hour." Setsuna explained, "I believe there are more viable options."

"What?"

"The Preventors have found an interesting shipment going to a Shepherd base. They are now on full alert for a potential war," Setsuna continued.

"War? Who would want to have another war?" Selenity gasped incredulously.

Selenity hated the idea of war. She always had. In her mind it was pointless and even childish. She'd been taught that adults talked out their problems, only children resorted to fists.

"We do," the Time Guardian replied sharply. "The shipment was of mobile suits. All mobile suits, even the Gundams, were destroyed. They have to be producing their own. Which means Endymion is up to something and if we don't stop him and his witch many people are going to die."

"So, you want a war but only between us and them. With the Preventors watching them that's not possible, Sets," Serenity pointed out and lowered herself into a bench.

Setsuna straightened and smoothed her lab coat, "I know the way around that. The Preventors want to put the Gundam pilots on the case. With someâ€persuasive speech I got the doctors that created the Gundams to accept another team of professionals."

"You brainwashed them like Chibi-Usa brainwashed my parents, didn't you?" Serenity accused with a wicked grin.

"You need to collect the senshi, Serenity," Setsuna continued like Serenity hadn't spoken at all. "We need them if we want to defeat Endymion and Zylstra."

Serenity opened her mouth to argue but couldn't find the will. The information she'd just been forced fed was still making her woozy. And she'd missed her friends, it would be good to see them again no matter the situation. Even if they didn't remember her.

"Fine."

* * *

The noon sun shined through arching picture windows, flooding the cream tinted room with light, making it seem like heaven had come down to earth. It was a room to be awed with its light-wooded floors and gilded furniture that reeked of wealth. The only thing that was out of place was the red. Violent patches of red jumped out at you, making heaven look blood splattered. It wasn't much, just a throw pillow here or a glass vase there but it was enough to unsettle the more sensitively tuned people. And those were the only people Zylstra deemed worthy to know. It made her giggle to see them squirm.

Classical music flowed through the air like a tempest, crescendoing fiercely then suddenly dropping into delicate calms like soft breezes in the eye of the storm. In the middle of it all was Zylstra, twirling and swaying like she'd gotten caught in the madness. Her black skirt and long red streaked raven hair swirled around her as she danced making Zlystra seem like the personification of the music's storm.

The spun and spun and spun about the room like a black whirlwind. Artfully, she dodged the furniture, touching nothing. She was a force of nature both delicate and deadly.

As the last notes dissipated, Zylstra twirled her way to the windows, avoiding a collision by only a few inches. Giggling, she looked down.

The windows looked down over the bustling city of Chicago, giving the casual observer glimpses of the city's high society scurrying from one overpriced shop to the next. They spent money the way they wished they had lived their lives: freely and without constraint. And the saleswomen gladly sucked every penny from them like the cosmetically enhanced leeches they were.

"Watch out, little bugs, a spider watches you," Zylstra giggled, watching the ant sized people scurry about.

Endymion sighed on the couch as he watched and listened to his wife. This was normal behavior and it was beginning to wear on his patience. Couldn't she act sane in front of him like she did in front of their daughter? It'd be a tremendous relief.

"Are you finished?" Endymion asked waspishly and slouched down in his seat.

Zylstra turned and tittered, "Never, darling, but for you I can make time."

"Good, now we can discuss business," Endymion straightened up and flipped open a folder laying on the coffee table. "Our plan has been set in motion. They should all be gathering soon and be ripe for the picking. How are the twins doing?"

"They're being good little lambs. They've been trained well. They'll cause us no problems," Zylstra replied solemnly.

Some of Zlystra's madness seemed to melt away whenever they talked business. It was why Endymion was sure to only talk to her about that and that alone. It was also good for public appearances. Who wanted to follow a man into war who married a raving loony? Zylstra played her part of the meek wife a revolutionary well.

"Good. Eve is doing just as well, she's loyal to our 'cause'," the Earth prince replied with a smirk. "My sisters won't mess up our plans again."

Zylstra giggled and spun around, "Oh, to see the look on that witch's face! When I take her as my own and mold her into a dark queen to be proud of!"

Endymion just smiled slyly. Once he had his rabbit again he wouldn't need Zylstra. He'd finally be free of this insanity. He'd have his rabbit and his honor, what more could a man ask for?


	4. Heavier Than the Words We Say

AN: Sorry this has been such a long wait. School and work took over my life. Thank my buddy, Autumn, for letting me go through her cd collection for music to inspire me. If it wasn't for her 'trash pile' of cds this chapter would probably not exist.

Immortal Habit

Chapter Three: Heavier Than The Words We Say

Victoria Base had a long and bloody history. Positioned in south-central Africa right on the Zambezi River and only a mile from the famous Victoria Falls, this former OZ base was first established during the fourth World War. It was originally used as a training base for special operations teams and a research facility on soldier enhancement. At any time the base could hold just under ten thousand personnel. Of the near sixty thousand troops that passed through Victoria Base only fifteen thousand lived through the war and only three thousand of those survivors died of natural causes later in life. None lived to A.C. times though most of them would only be in their early sixties when the first colony was launched.

Okami knew all this because she'd lived on Victoria Base since she was six. (On an interesting note the researchers at Victoria Base found that the best soldiers were trained from early childhood. They published their findings in a well-known manuscript that is still used today.) She and her sister Aki had been brought to Victoria Base by a man that insisted on being called 'Brother' by all of the children at Victoria Base. Okami and Aki were the only ones that Brother referred to as 'Little Sister'. They had been the first children brought but were most certainly not the last. Okami's last census had revealed there to be near two thousand children from ages 14 to 5 and four thousand soldiers within the base. Aki and Okami were the eldest at fifteen.

They'd lived on Victoria Base right through the Eve Wars. Brother had an agreement with OZ that said OZ could use the base for military operations as long as Brother could use any soldier he wished in his work with the children at any time. After the wars some of the OZ soldiers even stayed at Victoria to continue working for Brother. Brother said it was because they believed in his work, Okami thought it was because he paid them better than a destroyed organization.

Days at Victoria followed a set pattern. There were two sets of classes. One set for those under the age of ten and one for over the age of ten. Both were strenuous and exactly sixteen hours long with a daily medical examination and at least two workouts. At meals you took your vitamins and hoped to god whatever they'd mixed up today wouldn't kill you, or worse make you kill others.

After tonight though, Okami and Aki wouldn't have to worry about that anymore. Once the clock struck midnight and the guard changed they would be free. Gone from the only world they'd known but hated so much and the man they called 'Brother'. All for a dream of home and some pictures Okami had stumbled upon.

Okami lay in her bed, staring at the ceiling and counting the ticks of the clock. Underneath the rough wool of her blanket she was fully dressed and had a bag of provisions for the long trip ahead. Also, in an air-tight container she kept numerous fake papers that proclaimed her a citizen of South Africa with a student visa to Sanq. Aki had the same papers for herself, hopefully she'd remembered to put them in the air-tight container.

"How much longer?" Aki breathed from the bed next to hers, only years of special 'vitamins' and 'flu shots' allowed her to hear her sister at all.

"A few minutes. Have you slept?" Okami replied in the same breathless fashion.

Aki shook her head. Okami couldn't see the movement but she could hear the furious friction of her sister's hair against her pillow. She didn't need to see Aki to know what she looked like right now. Her long blood-red hair was splayed over her pillow and partially trailing on the ground while her curiously halved blue-green eyes tried in vain to see her sister through the darkness.

"You should have," Okami chided her sibling.

"Well, its too damn late now. Are you still set on this suicide trip to Hwange? Livingstone is closer," Aki's voice had risen to a barely audible whisper.

"It's also crawling with off-duty soldiers. We'd be back here before we'd even gotten ten steps out the door," Okami's voice rose to match Aki's.

"So, instead we're crossing a railroad bridge that's over a millennia old and hasn't been used since the first colonies? I'd rather float down the Zambezi to Mozambique!"

"Which is in the completely wrong direction and then we'd die going over the Kariba Dam. Besides, the only way to get into the river for the next 120 kilos is dropping 400 ft into a gorge. My plan is better than yours and you know it."

"Hwange ain't exactly on the way to Sanq, Okami."

Okami rolled her eyes at the ceiling. They'd been through this already! Aki knew just as well as she did why they were going to Hwange. Her high-strung sister was just trying to blow off steam by arguing.

"But it is on the way to South Africa and an airport. Now, if you're done being childish I've lost count of the time. We need to be ready to leave as soon as the guard changes."

A new voice entered the conversation, shocking the hell out of the sisters, "It already has. You're damn lucky too. If it'd been anyone else listening to you two your great adventure would be over before it even began."

Okami and Aki let out twin sighs of relief. They recognized the voice as being Eve, their favorite soldier on base. The woman loved piloting more than she loved the military and it showed by how little she'd risen in rank and how often she got second shift guard duty.

"Damn it, Eve. We told you to knock to let us know the guard had switched, not barge in," Aki snapped.

"It doesn't matter," Okami pointed out, throwing off her covers and arranging her pack on her back. "We need to go now."

Aki nodded and rose from bed. From her pocket she drew out a black cap. As quickly as humanly possible she tied her long bright red hair up in a knot and slapped the cap over it. The last thing they needed was a flaming red target on their backs.

"Ready?" Eve prompted.

The twins nodded. One would never think they were twins because of their hair. With Aki's bright red and Okami's light brown most people assumed they were close friends, rarely did anyone make the family connection. It seemed the only trait they seemed to share were the same curiously halved blue-green eyes.

"You know I'm going to lose my job because of this, right?" Eve grinned mischievously at the sisters as they passed her into the hall.

"You should be thanking us, then, Eve," Aki smirked, "You've been trying to get fired for how long?"

Eve mock scowled, "Get you. I've got better things to do with my time than chat with escapees."

With that the twins fled silently into the night, leaving Eve to stand watch on an empty room. Later, Aki would realize she'd been the only one really laughing during the farewell spat. Both Okami and Eve knew what would follow for the pilot. Letting two maximum-security specimens escape, accidentally or on purpose, was high treason at Victoria Base resulting in death. So, at five past midnight Corporal Eve Terran sat down in front of Okami and Aki's former room and slept on the cold sterile floor because not only was there no one to guard but it would be the last time she'd have the luxury.

* * *

_How often did she dream this dream? Or even better, how long had she been having it? Once a week. Years._

_It felt like centuries._

_Maybe it had been. Lately time had been losing it's meaning._

_She was in a field of green grass and the wind was blowing fiercely enough to catch up her thick dark hair. She knew instinctively that someone was behind her, staring. But she didn't turn, she never had before and she'd decided that in these dreams she couldn't._

_It was odd. Her body was not her own but it felt perfectly natural. She knew in real life that her hair was short and blue and instead of poised and tall she was short and had a tendency to mix with the scenery if she stayed silent. It was like she'd taken off her body like one takes off clothes and put on another._

_The person behind her had spoken. He had called her something. What had it been?_

_Her dream self replied but she couldn't hear the words. She couldn't even feel her lips moving._

_The dream was so frustrating, it made her want to cry. If this all meant something, something important; how was she going to get the message if she couldn't hear what was being said or see who she was talking too?_

_Not for the first time she tried to turn her head to see who was with her but like all the other times she was frozen. All she could see was the field and the wildflowers stretching out before her neither continuing nor stopping but just fading. It was maddening. She had to know who was behind her._

If there is a God…or a Goddess, you will let me see.

_She hadn't expected any actual results. She was not the most religious person. But when her head began to turn she couldn't help but think someone had heard her prayer._

_Then the dream began to fade. She hadn't turned her head far enough yet! No! Who was she talking to? She had to know!_

_Before the dream faded completely she caught a flash of red in the corner of her eye._

"Ami? Ami, wake up."

Ami shifted away from the voice and tried to retreat further into her arms and back into sleep. She needed to know who the person in the dream was. Whoever it was she felt an unbreakable bond with him, like she'd known him his entire life. If Ami had had children she would akin the bond to that.

"Doctor, really you need to wake up. They need you in surgery."

Dr. Ami Anderson groggily raised her head and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Why had she agreed to take Eric's place on call tonight? She already been at the hospital since the crack of dawn and now that she looked out the window she realized she was going to spend another sunrise in the operating room.

The worst part was that she knew she had no where else better to be. Which is exactly why Eric had asked her instead of one of the more experienced surgeons, he knew she'd say yes.

Relucantly, Ami rose out of her chair and stretched, wincing at the feel of her back re-aligning.

"Was I talking in my sleep again, Patty?" Ami asked the elderly nurse who'd awakened her.

Months ago Patricia had walked into Dr. Anderson's office while she was sleeping and was surprised to hear the young doctor mumbling in her sleep. Ever since Ami had been asking the nurse to listen carefully and try to translate her speaking for her. She had hoped whatever she said would shed some light on her mysterious dreams.

"Just like every other time, doctor," Patty nodded, "But this time I understood a word."

Ami stopped in mid-yawn and stared excitedly at Patty. She'd been hoping for this for months. Finally, she'd have a clue. Soon she would know what all these dreams were about.

"What was it?" Ami gushed in anticipation.

Patty mulled over the word for a moment, "I believe you said 'stampede', doctor."

Ami's face furrowed in disappointment. It meant nothing to her. There had been no stampede in her dream. There hadn't been a single animal in sight, much less hundreds of rampaging ones. The nurse must have heard wrong.

"Are you sure, Patty? Stampede?" Ami asked, desperately hoping the nurse would shake her head and tell her that it'd been something else.

But Patty nodded, "As sure as sure can be. You said stampede."

Ami sighed, "Thank you, Patty. Maybe next time. I'll be in OR shortly."

Patty nodded and left, leaving Ami alone.

The young surgeon collapsed back into her chair and pinched the bridge of her nose, hoping to relieve the throbbing migraine that was beginning, and fought the urge to lay back on her desk and rest a bit longer. She was so tired lately, not just physically but mentally also. She felt like some of the veteran surgeons looked: like she'd seen too much blood and death for three lifetimes. Which was impossible since she'd only just finished her residency and she was only twenty-one.

She'd dedicated her life to becoming a doctor. She'd even skipped part of eighth grade and all of high school to go to medical school abroad. Unfortunately, the war broke out in her fourth year and she'd been drafted into the army due to a lack of field medics. She'd been assigned to a lovely little medical unit that patched up the wounded just enough for them to reach a real hospital without dying. She'd learned more about surgery and medicine there than she could in any school.

_I still haven't written Sally Po back._

Sally Po had looked after her during the war. Ami had come to think of her as a surrogate big sister. They'd stayed in contact over the years and met for dinner once a month or so. Ami loved hearing stories about Sally's job as a Preventor and her partner, Chang Wufei, who sounded like a very difficult man to say the least.

"You always were a thinker, Ami," a voice said from the shadows.

Ami started and clutched her chest, "Who's there?"

There was a pause and a small sigh, "Someone you'd rather forget, I'm sure."

The person came out of the shadows and Ami had to admit that they'd been right. She would rather forget that particular time of the war.

The woman in front of her had appeared much the same way five years ago during the Eve Wars and had recruited her into an elite group of soldiers that in the end did nothing. She only knew the woman by one name, Artemis. Ami had long ago figured she was one in the same with the notorious assassin of the same name and she'd never been sure how she felt about being in the same room as the woman that had killed Relena Peacecraft.

"Hello, Artemis. It's been a long time," Ami addressed the silver-haired woman warily.

Artemis smiled bitterly, "But never long enough, right?"

"I wouldn't say that," Ami lied, standing to offer her hand.

"But you thought it. Don't spare my feelings, Ami. I'm not worth the effort," Artemisia grasped the hand briefly before stepping back again.

Ami flushed in shame and averted her gaze. She realized her hand was still hanging in mid-air and blushed even brighter, quickly clasping her hands in front of her.

"W-what brings you here, Artemis?" Ami asked a little to loudly to take the attention off her blush and to overcome the stammer.

An amused little smile played across Artemis's lips as she scanned Ami's bland office, either in curiosity or for signs that they were under surveillance. The action made Ami very nervous and she discreetly began pushing her chair back to give herself room to escape if necessary. You never knew with assassins.

"There's going to be a war," Artemis' eyes snapped back to Ami at the slightest sign of movement.

Ami froze and the color drained completely from her face. "A-are you sure?"

"Setsuna contacted me," the assassin replied, a shadow of emotion flickered across her eyes, unfathomable.

Ami eyes grew large and she leaned on her desk for support, the last thing she needed to do was faint in front of Artemis. Setsuna had been the commander of the group she'd been apart of briefly. Ami had been around the woman enough to know that she only seemed to bring bad news.

"Why can't the Preventors handle it?" the blue-haired surgeon took deep breaths and tried to ask rational questions.

"The Preventors will handle it. Setsuna is under contract with them now," Artemis replied.

"You're wanted for murder by the Preventors."

"I'm doing a favor for Sets, not the Preventors," Artemis shrugged nonchalantly.

"This is all too fast," Ami collapsed back in her chair, placing her head in her hands. "I'm needed in surgery."

Now Artemis gave a small secret smile, "Not anymore. The patient made a miraculous recovery. I overheard a doctor say it was like magic."

Ami gazed warily at Artemis, not quite convinced. Miracles like magic happened rarely in her line of work, Ami believed only in the miracle of medicine.

"Call the desk and check if you don't believe me," Artemis gestured towards the phone.

Ami did just that. Just as Artemis had said, the patient had miraculously stopped hemorrhaging, allowing the surgeons to sew him up with no further complications. Not exactly magic in Ami's eyes, just a lucky break.

"I don't have a choice, do I?" the doctor asked quietly, setting the receiver back on the hook.

Artemis' silence said all Ami needed to hear.

The doctor sighed, "Fine. I've got some vacation time saved up anyways."

The assassin chuckled, "You'll need it."


End file.
